Secret Santa
by sophie-the-duchess
Summary: Anna is Kristoff's office Secret Santa, but who is hers? Modern AU fluffy Christmas one-shot where Anna and Kristoff are coworkers.


Anna drummed her fingers on the gift in her lap impatiently, causing the reindeer-patterned paper to crinkle from her repeatedly hitting it. Her knee bounced in time with an unheard song, restless with unbounded energy.

They were sitting in a circle in the main conference room; the tables had been pushed to the perimeter of the room to accommodate everybody in the office, with a circle of chairs filling the center of the floor. Those who couldn't fit in the circle were standing around its edge. Anna was sitting in a chair near the door, in the front of the room, as opposed to along the back wall where the blond-haired, blue-eyed man was standing– the one that she was trying her best not to stare at. Anna couldn't help but glance at him occasionally, though, especially when she thought no one was looking. Once or twice when she peeked at him, he was inspecting the wrapped present in his hands with intrigue, apparently wondering what it was or who had gotten it for him. It made Anna smile to herself with excitement.

She was Kristoff's Secret Santa, but he didn't know it yet.

Her office had been doing the Secret Santa tradition around the winter holidays for at least as long as Anna had worked there, which had been a couple of years at that point. The way it worked was that, after the Thanksgiving break, everyone in the office drew names from a bowl; the name of the person written on the slip of paper picked was the person that the picker had to anonymously buy a gift for, spending at least fifty dollars to make it fair. Then, a week before Christmas, the entire office got together for cookies and coffee to open their gifts and guess who the giver was.

For the first time, Anna had gotten Kristoff Bjorgman, her cubicle neighbor (and without a doubt the cutest guy in the office), as her Secret Santa giftee. The year before she had drawn Hans Westergaard's name; they had dated briefly before a nasty breakup prior to Hans's departure from the company. Anna swore after that day that she'd never date another coworker ever again. Although Kristoff was handsome, and she enjoyed talking to him, and he often brought her coffee, and he made her laugh, and he had kindly brushed the snow off of her car a handful of times, she _had_ to only think of him as a friend. A work friend, at that.

Still, Anna couldn't help the way that her stomach fluttered whenever they bumped into each other at the water cooler.

The gift that Anna had gotten Kristoff was big enough that when he held it against his broad chest, it touched both of his upper arms simultaneously. In fact, every single other gift in the room was larger than the one that Anna had been given; she tried not to feel too ungrateful at having the smallest present, and thereby probably the cheapest, but she couldn't help but wonder why the person who had been anonymously picked to be her Secret Santa couldn't have even bothered to spend the agreed-upon fifty-dollar limit on her. She should be thankful, she figured, that she had gotten anything at all; she had heard horror stories of co-workers who had received nothing in the gift exchange because their Secret Santa either forgot or didn't care, or only handed them an unwrapped, half-eaten pack of gum and some grocery store coupons at the last minute.

At the very least, Anna's Secret Santa had made an attempt to wrap the tiny item in some festive red paper with cartoonish reindeer faces printed all over it, although it was obvious that the item wasn't contained in any sort of box or container; when she shook the fist-sized wad of paper, the weightless item inside slid around while making an odd, metallic scratching sound against the paper. Anna hadn't the slightest clue as to what it could be; it almost sounded like someone had simply wrapped up some paper clips from their desk.

Maybe whoever it was really did forget to buy her a real present.

It was Gerda's turn to open her gift; the matronly office manager tore off the dark blue and silver snowflake-patterned paper with humble excitement to reveal a brand new, name-brand cast iron Dutch oven, still in the box. The ring of onlookers _oohed_ and _ahhed_ in expected appreciation, as Gerda exclaimed something or other about needing a new Dutch oven. She made a few wrong guesses as to the identity of her Secret Santa, to the amusement of her co-workers who couldn't help but laugh in good humor, until she finally gave up. It was then that Kai raised his hand and Gerda rose to give him a hug in thanks, her ugly Christmas sweater jingling from the movement. Everyone around them applauded.

"It's your turn, Anna," Kai informed her, gesturing to the package in her lap. Trying to hide her trepidation and replace it with giddy eagerness, Anna carefully pulled at a corner of the paper; it tore easily, and the entire thing was open in only three short rips. Inside sat a necklace, but not just any necklace.

Anna couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Nestled amongst the wrinkled paper sat an exact replica of the necklace she had lost as a young girl; a golden, heart-shaped locket on a vermeil chain given to her by her father shortly before his and her mother's untimely deaths. She had never told anyone at the office about the locket, nor had she any idea as to how anyone could have known that she had been trying to find a replacement for years. She had researched dozens, if not hundreds, of sites looking for the exact same necklace, and had only recently found one on a bidding site; however, another buyer had snatched it up before she'd even had the chance to put in a winning bid.

How could her Secret Santa have known? It _had_ to be a coincidence. A strange, magical, universe-meddling coincidence. Regardless, the shock of it caused Anna's eyes to water, and before she could stop the torrent she was full-blown crying in the middle of the conference room.

No one knew what to do or say, too shocked by Anna's unexpectedly emotional reaction to react appropriately. She glanced up briefly to see everyone staring at her in uncomfortable awe and embarrassment, and accidentally locked eyes with Kristoff, who was watching her with a look of absolute _terror_ on his face. As if someone had ripped out his heart and stomped on it while it was still beating in front of him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she choked out to everyone and no one in particular, standing quickly and pushing her chair back in one movement. Luckily, she was close enough to the door to run out of it without anyone being in her way.

She ran down the hallway and towards the break room, knowing that it would be empty at that time due to everyone being gathered in the conference room. She didn't stop running until she could brace herself against the counter in front of the sink, the locket still fisted tightly in her grip along with the paper. She took a moment to steady her breathing, sucking in her sobs as they attempted to escape her, until at last she had reasonably calmed herself enough to exhale a long, deep, steadying breath.

The sound of footsteps approaching behind her caused her to whip around, only to see that Kristoff had followed her.

Anna wiped at her eyes with her fingertips; she hated for him to see her in such a way. "Kristoff, hey."

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice thick with concern. Anna saw that he was still holding his unwrapped present; in his haste to chase after her he must not have had the thought to put it down.

She sniffled, managing an answer between hiccups. "I'm sorry. I'm fine. Everything's fine."

Kristoff nodded, but his amber eyes stayed worried. "Is it the gift? You don't like it?"

"It's… it's…" She sighed. "It's _wonderful_. It just caught me by surprise, is all."

Kristoff breathed out in relief, an action that Anna found odd; she cocked her head at him.

"I was scared for a minute there. I thought you hated it so much that it made you cry!" He laughed a nervous laugh, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

For the first time since she'd booked it from the conference room, Anna lifted the necklace out of the paper and dangled it in front of herself to inspect it more closely; it was the exact same style as the one she used to own, down to the little floral engraving details on the front of the locket and everything. Nostalgia overwhelmed her.

"Honestly, this is the most meaningful gift I've ever received in my life. Well, _second_ most meaningful," she corrected herself hastily, remembering the original necklace from her father. "I just wish I knew who got it for me. And how they knew."

She looked back to Kristoff, and was surprised to see that his expression had changed; he appeared more intense, somehow. More emotional.

"I could tell you, if you want to know," he offered quietly.

If Anna's jaw could hit the floor, it would've. She stared at him for a moment or two, mouth agape, trying to make her mouth match the words spinning around in her brain as she connected the dots. "You… are _you_ my Secret Santa?"

Kristoff nodded sheepishly.

"How in the world did you know about the necklace?"

"We share a cubicle wall," he started. "I can hear almost everything you say, the music you listen to, every video you watch on social media. Not on purpose– it's just not very private in those cubicles. Anyway, the other day you were on the phone with your sister talking about how you'd been searching for this locket for a long time, and you finally found it on a bidding site, but it was too expensive. I waited for you to go to lunch, and then… I kind of snooped."

Anna gasped. "You went on my work computer without my permission? Without me even _knowing_ about it?"

"I know, I know."

"H.R. would have a field day with you if they knew."

"_I know_. Look, I promise I didn't look at anything except the listing for the locket. It was lucky that you left it open, because I didn't want to go through your search history or anything like that. I just wrote down the link and pulled it up on my own computer so that I could buy it for you."

"Kristoff, that locket cost over _two hundred dollars,_ and that's not even including shipping. The Secret Santa gift didn't need to cost more than fifty."

Kristoff merely shrugged. "I had already drawn your name and had no idea what to get you. I knew that I wanted to get you something that you'd actually like, something meaningful, so when I heard you talking about the locket I jumped on the opportunity."

"Yeah, but two hundred dollars is a bit much. It's _too_ much. I can't accept this!"

"I wish it only cost me two hundred," he mumbled.

Anna blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I got in a bit of a bidding war with another buyer and had to outbid them to win the listing." Kristoff winced, as though remembering the hole the purchase had burnt in his wallet. "Ended up spending about four hundred when all was said and done."

Anna smacked a hand to her forehead. "That was _me, _Kristoff. You were in a bidding war with _me_. I was trying to win it, too."

"Huh. I guess I didn't think that part through." Realization dawned on him. "Obviously, if you found the listing, of course you would've been bidding on it, too. Yeah, that makes sense. I didn't think of that."

"Kristoff, I can't accept this. I really can't. I can't be okay with you spending a small fortune on me, when I only spent a hundred and fifty on your gift." Anna slapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late; she had spilled the beans.

Kristoff looked down at the present he still held in his hands, then back at her. "You're my Secret Santa?"

Anna groaned. "Yes, but I didn't want to ruin it." She waved at him. "Go ahead, you might as well open it now."

Warily, Kristoff set the package in his arms down on the counter, pulling at the evergreen-printed paper until the object inside was revealed to him.

"An automotive tool set?" He gasped. "And it's the exact one I need! How did you…"

Anna pulled at a single ginger braid, trying her best not to come across as smug. "I overheard you talking to Sven about a problem you were having with your car and how your tool set was missing a specific wrench that you needed. I did some research and every website I found recommended this set as the one to buy. So, I did!"

Kristoff took pause. "So, what you're saying is, that I eavesdropped on you to buy your gift, and you eavesdropped on me to buy mine?"

Anna pressed her lips together; he had a point. They locked eyes for only a moment before Kristoff started laughing, and Anna couldn't help but join him in his fit, laughing until they cried at the romantic absurdity of it all.

As their laughter subsided, and they had both calmed enough to make eye contact without bursting into another fit, Kristoff reached for the locket in Anna's hand and took it from her gently, opening the clasp and gesturing for her to turn around; she did so, holding her hair aloft to allow Kristoff to easily slip the dainty chain around her neck, his knuckles brushing the sensitive skin there and sending shivers down her spine. When she dropped her braids and turned back around to face him, she couldn't help but feel the locket with her fingertips where it rested comfortably on her collarbone; it felt like it had always belonged there.

"I can't believe you spent triple the amount of the Secret Santa limit on me," Kristoff said. This earned him a playful punch on the arm from Anna.

"Me? You spent, like, _eight times_ the amount!"

"Well, that's because you're worth it."

Anna felt her face burn immediately with the rosy tinge of a blush at his statement. She suddenly felt incredibly nervous to be around him; the butterflies in her stomach were going nuts. Kristoff noticed, and he shuffled on his feet, drawing on his courage to use the moment to his advantage.

"Listen, if you're not busy, or anything… would you like to grab some dinner this weekend? Like, with me? Not by yourself or anything. Like a date."

Anna's face fell. "Oh, Kristoff, that's really sweet of you, and I'd love to, but I have this rule about not dating coworkers. After what happened with Hans..."

Kristoff hung his head; he tried not to sound too disappointed. "No big deal, I understand."

Anna pulled at the sleeves of his sweater to bring his attention back to her. "But for _you,_ I'd be willing to break that rule."

An involuntary grin spread across Kristoff's face and he couldn't help but wrap an arm around the petite redhead affectionately in a half-hug; she allowed it, leaning into him, enjoying the warmth of his body radiating from beneath his black and blue argyle sweater.

"I still can't believe you listened to my phone calls _and_ hacked my computer because you wanted to get me the perfect gift so badly." Anna shook her head with a giggle. "That's gotta the creepiest, sweetest thing that anyone's ever done for me."

Kristoff chuckled. "I'm glad you liked it. Merry Christmas, Anna."

"Merry Kristoff, Christmas," she stuttered, tripping over her own words. "We, um, better get back to the party. We've been gone a little too long– everyone's gonna get suspicious."

Daring to be bold to cover up her blunder, Anna stood up on the tips of her toes to plant a chaste kiss on the tall man's cheek. She then spun on her heel and waltzed as nonchalantly as possible back in the direction of the conference room, only looking over her shoulder once to flash him a grateful smile, Kristoff grinning like an idiot all the time as he watched her disappear around the corner.


End file.
